Trevi Fountain in Movies: La Dolce Vita, Roman Holiday & More

The key films at a glance

Roman Holiday (1953)

In William Wyler's Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn's Princess Ann walks past the Trevi Fountain before stepping into the barber shop on Via della Stamperia, the small street beside the piazza, where she gets her famous short haircut. It is a genuine location scene rather than a stock establishing shot.

The film's better-known set pieces are elsewhere — the Spanish Steps, the Mouth of Truth, the Vespa ride through Piazza Venezia — but it helped establish Rome as Hollywood's romantic backdrop, and the Trevi became shorthand for "we're in Rome".

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

Jean Negulesco's Three Coins in the Fountain turned a Roman folk belief into a global tourist ritual. Three American women working in Rome each toss a coin into the Trevi and wish for love — light material, perfectly pitched at post-war audiences dreaming of European travel.

The film won two Academy Awards, including Best Original Song for its title track. Within a few years, coin-throwing at the Trevi had shifted from a local habit to something most visitors felt obliged to do.

The ritual itself is older than the film, but Hollywood supplied the script everyone now follows: stand with your back to the fountain and toss the coin over your left shoulder.

La Dolce Vita (1960) — the scene

Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita contains what is, almost without argument, the most famous scene in Italian cinema. Anita Ekberg walks fully clothed into the Trevi basin at night, beckons Marcello Mastroianni to follow, and delivers the line "Marcello! Come here!" before the two share a knee-deep embrace.

The sequence was shot on location over a cold late-winter night shoot, and the accounts of how the two actors coped with the water have been retold so often — and so inconsistently — that they are best treated as film folklore rather than documented fact.

The film was condemned by parts of the Catholic press, split Italian critics, and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. It also turned the Trevi Fountain into a worldwide symbol of glamour.

When Mastroianni died in 1996, the fountain was switched off and draped in black as the city's tribute to the actor whose Trevi scene defined Italian cinema abroad.

Everybody's Fine (1990)

Giuseppe Tornatore's Stanno Tutti Bene stars Marcello Mastroianni as an ageing Sicilian widower travelling across Italy to visit his adult children. Seeing Mastroianni beside the same fountain three decades after La Dolce Vita gives the film's Roman sequence a weight it would not otherwise have.

Sabrina Goes to Rome (1998)

The TV-movie spin-off of Sabrina the Teenage Witch sent Melissa Joan Hart to Rome and included the obligatory Trevi coin toss. Not high cinema, but for a generation of 1990s viewers it was the introduction to the fountain.

The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)

Hilary Duff's Lizzie McGuire Movie includes a Trevi coin-toss moment that became one of the most-watched on-screen Trevi visits of the 2000s, and reintroduced the fountain to a young international audience.

Another Simple Favor (2025)

The most current mainstream appearance is Another Simple Favor (2025), whose closing moments return to the Trevi Fountain. It is a reminder that the fountain still works as a visual full stop — the shot that tells the audience the story has ended in Rome.

Films often credited to the Trevi by mistake

Several titles circulate on "Trevi Fountain movies" lists without holding up:

• When in Rome (2010) — the plot revolves around a fictional "Fountain of Love", not the Trevi. The Rome set was built in Piazza Fontanella Borghese. The confusion comes from the film borrowing Rome's coin-tossing mythology.
• The Great Beauty (2013) — Sorrentino's film is a conscious descendant of La Dolce Vita, but its official Rome location itinerary lists the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola and other sites, not the Trevi. The two fountains are frequently mixed up.
• House of Gucci (2021) — filmed in Milan, Lake Como, the Aosta Valley and several Rome locations, but we found no reliable confirmation of a Trevi scene.
• Angels & Demons (2009) and Spectre (2015) — both shot extensively in Rome, and both appear on aggregated location lists that we could not verify against the films themselves. If you can point to a timestamp, we'll happily add them back.

We would rather run a shorter list that holds up than a longer one that doesn't.

Why filming at the Trevi is difficult today

Large productions rarely stage full scenes at the fountain now. The practical reasons are straightforward:

• The piazza is one of Rome's busiest, and closing it needs permits from the city and heritage authorities.
• The monument is protected: lighting changes, draping and any alteration of the water are tightly restricted, particularly since the 2014–2015 restoration.
• Since February 2026 the area closest to the basin operates as a controlled-access zone, which adds another layer of coordination.
• Aerial and second-unit footage now covers most of what productions need without a street-level shutdown.

For what the fountain actually looks like at the quiet hours film crews prefer, see our complete Trevi Fountain guide.

Sources and further reading

• Turismo Roma — official Trevi Fountain page (description, access rules, restoration history)
• Istituto Luce Cinecittà archive (contemporary newsreel and film location records)
• The New York Times — Marcello Mastroianni obituary (1996) (the fountain draped in mourning)
• Roma Capitale (current access rules and official notices)

Continue reading about the Trevi Fountain

Plan the visit itself

• Complete Trevi Fountain visitor guide
• Trevi Fountain map & what's nearby
• Pantheon to Trevi walking route
• Spanish Steps to Trevi walk
• Half a day around the Trevi Fountain
• One day in Rome itinerary

Frequently Asked Questions

What movie made the Trevi Fountain famous?

Two films share the credit: 'Three Coins in the Fountain' (1954) introduced the coin-throwing legend to a global audience and won an Oscar for its title song, and 'La Dolce Vita' (1960) made the fountain iconic with Anita Ekberg wading into the basin.

Can you swim in the Trevi Fountain like in La Dolce Vita?

No — wading or swimming in the fountain is prohibited and carries fines that can reach several hundred euros. Ekberg's scene was filmed with permission on a controlled night shoot.

Did Audrey Hepburn film at the Trevi Fountain in Roman Holiday?

Yes, briefly. Princess Ann walks past the Trevi Fountain on her way to the barber shop on Via della Stamperia, where she has her hair cut short. Her better-known scenes are at the Spanish Steps, the Mouth of Truth and Castel Sant'Angelo.

Was 'When in Rome' filmed at the Trevi Fountain?

No. The 2010 romantic comedy is built around a fictional 'Fountain of Love'. The Rome set was constructed in Piazza Fontanella Borghese, not at the Trevi.